American Notes for General Circulation, Volume 1

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Chapman and Hall, 1842 - 306 pages
 

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Page 71 - There she was, before me ; built up, as it were, in a marble cell, impervious to any ray of light, or particle of sound ; with her poor white hand peeping through a chink in the wall, beckoning to some good man for help, that an Immortal soul might be awakened.
Page 240 - He had been convicted as a receiver of stolen goods, but even after this long imprisonment, denied his guilt, and said he had been hardly dealt by. It was his second offence. He stopped his work when we went in, took off his spectacles, and answered freely to everything that was said to him, but always with a strange kind of pause first, and in a low, thoughtful voice.
Page 78 - Then small detached labels, with the same words printed upon them, were put into her hands ; and she soon observed that they were similar to the ones pasted on the articles. She showed her perception of this similarity by laying the label key upon the key, and the label spoon upon the spoon.
Page 284 - All Men are created Equal; and are endowed by their Creator with the Inalienable Rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness!
Page 90 - Her tendency to imitation is so strong, that it leads her to actions which must be entirely incomprehensible to her, and which can give her no other pleasure than the gratification of an internal faculty. She has been known...
Page 108 - They have among themselves a sewing society to make clothes for the poor, which holds meetings, passes resolutions, never comes to fisty cuffs or bowie-knives as sane assemblies have been known to do elsewhere ; and conducts all its proceedings with the greatest decorum. The irritability, which would otherwise be expended on their own flesh, clothes, and furniture, is dissipated in these pursuits. They are cheerful, tranquil, and healthy.
Page 73 - She was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, onthetwenty-firstof December, 1829. Sho is described as having been a very sprightly and pretty infant, with bright blue eyes. She was, however, so puny and feeble until she was a year and a half old, that her parents hardly hoped to rear her.
Page 231 - ... steps and portico thronged with groups of people passing in and out. The door was still tight shut, however ; the same cold cheerless air prevailed ; and the building looked as if the marble statue of Don Guzman could alone have any business to transact within its gloomy walls. I hastened to inquire its name and purpose, and then my surprise vanished. It was the Tomb of many fortunes ; the Great Catacomb of investment ; the memorable United States Bank.
Page 238 - He is a man buried alive ; to be dug out in the slow round of years; and in the meantime dead to everything but torturing anxieties and horrible despair. His name, and crime, and term of suffering, are unknown, even to the officer who delivers him his daily food. There is a number over his...
Page 91 - ... language, slow and tedious as it is. But it is only when alone that she is quiet, for if she becomes sensible of the presence of any one near her she is restless until she can sit close beside them, hold their hand, and converse with them by signs. In her intellectual...

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